On Wednesday October 3rd Washington Post Columnist, Sally Jenkins, wrote a perspective on NCAA Amateurism in the wake of the recent FBI probe that has rocked college basketball. In response to her piece, former college coach and Pitt standout Pete Strickland pens a letter to Ms Jenkins to share his perspective… Ms. Jenkins, Good morning….
Dear Coach, I’m almost 39 years old. I’ve been coaching high school basketball for exactly one-third of my life. According to Webster’s, I’m 6 years away from being considered “Middle Aged”. But that’s in human years, not coaches’ years. I’m exhausted. I don’t have the patience that I once had for you…the energetic, hardworking recruiter,…
It’s always amazing how the shot after the “one more” drive and kick extra pass seems to go down. Or how the guy that’s first to the floor usually comes up with the loose ball. The charge? We’ve all seen it make a bench explode, energize an arena, and change the course of a game….
In 2016 I spoke to a group of 200 coaches at “A Step Up Assistant Coaching Symposium” and received so much positive feedback that I thought I would share it with you on Coach-Speak.net. The topic given to me by Felicia Hall Allen was “The Art of Extending Your Career.” I open with this: ”While I am assigned…
Here at NC Central, we have established 10 Standards of Excellence that we hold as our Core Beliefs in our Day to Day Operations. The Championship runs that the Boston Celtics had were predicated on very similar beliefs, so we just adopted it here at NC Central. 10 Commandments of Excellence: 1. Truth– WE WILL…
Big Breaks, special relationships are how it all began… I was like most teenage athletes who love their sport. I spent most of my time playing, watching or talking about basketball. I just loved everything about the sport. First the camaraderie of being around others who loved the game, secondly I really enjoyed the training and…
“Keep your nose clean and you’ll have a great coaching career.” “It takes a lifetime to build a reputation but less than 30 seconds to destroy it.” These were phrases constantly uttered to me by my high school coach Gary DeCesare and a mentor of mine, Donnie Little, (who was the first black quarterback at…
Every year when one season ends, a new season begins. I always find it to be an exciting, forward-looking time, but also a time to reflect, evaluate and most of all “reset” for the new season. I am a strong proponent of communication with our players and feel like we learn as much from them…
As our car pulled into the driveway of the rental house in Charlotte for the first time in August of 2012, I remember saying to my wife, “This is it. If this doesn’t work out, I’m done. I’m not going to keep doing this to you guys.” Seated in the back of the car was…
“If you are not making Mistakes, then you are NOT doing anything!” –John Wooden “I’ve missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan…
